A Reason To Stay
by Jak Pickens
Summary: Plagued by nightmares, Selina takes a nighttime stroll down memory lane through a hellish Gotham City, accompanied by none other than Bruce Wayne himself. However, the memories resurfaced might've been better off left as they were: forgotten. (5x03) (Night-of-Episode-Oneshot)


**A/N: They can never just be happy, can they? *sigh* Well, at least all of their problems give me tons of content to write on. Hope you enjoy!**

 **A Reason To Stay**

Selina gasped as she shot up into a seated position, covered in a cold sweat. Her heart was racing and she had an aching pain in her lower abdomen.

Phantom pain, the doctor had called it. There was no injury now, not since that weird root thing had healed her, but her body remembered where it had been. And it never seemed to stop reminding her.

She tried to take a deep breath, to slow down her heart rate and get her nerves back under control.

But she couldn't. She couldn't stop seeing his face. The gunshot rang in her ears endlessly.

She couldn't stay in that god-forsaken room any longer. She needed to leave, now.

Throwing herself out of bed, she pulled on a leather hooded jacket and pants, a pair of black combat boots, and her clawed-gloves she'd gotten from Tabby.

She crawled out the window above her bed and ascended to the roof of the building. She felt panicked, like she was climbing for her life, like she would suffocate if she didn't reach the roof in time.

But the second she reached the top, the second the Gotham smog hit her face, all her nerves seemingly vanished.

She closed her eyes and breathed it in.

Freedom.

It was sweet, especially after three months of being stuck indoors.

She'd done this almost every night since she'd regained her ability to walk. She'd missed it so much…the ability to go anywhere she wanted, do anything she wanted. No restraints.

Well…except for the boy who always tagged along.

She turned around and, sure enough, there he was, dressed in a black leather jacket, black army pants, and a pair of black combat boots.

"Wow…" she started, shaking her head in exasperation. "Did you really copy my look?"

"You're not the only one who likes black," Bruce replied. He smirked and joined her on the ledge of the building. "So, where to tonight?" he asked, looking out over the ruins of Gotham.

She grinned mischievously and told him, "It's a surprise."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, then. Lead the way, Cat."

"Always," she responded before turning and sprinting towards the other side of the rooftop.

She didn't need to check that Bruce was following. She knew he would. He always followed.

She approached the first gap between the buildings. It was only three stories high, much lower in altitude than her usual jumps, but the thrill was the same.

Leaping off the edge of a building, soaring through the air with the wind rushing through her hair. Her true freedom was only found at Death's door. She'd knocked on the door a couple of times, whether by being shoved through a window or shot through the stomach, and the few times that she'd cut it close were truly terrifying experiences.

But it was too much fun to not tease Fate.

Especially considering the hand Fate had been dealing her lately.

As far as she was concerned, Fate could go f–

"So you really aren't going to tell me where we're going?" Bruce complained, falling into stride with her.

She smirked and told him, "Nope." She abruptly stopped and grabbed onto his wrist, dragging him to a halt. She pulled him in close, wrapping an arm around his neck and lightly tracing his jawline with her other hand, her lips just hovering below his own. "Besides, if you really want to be a detective so bad, you should try and figure it out yourself."

He stared down at her intensely. "Can I kiss you?" he asked simply.

She cocked an eyebrow in amusement and nodded. But as he leaned in, she placed a finger on his lips, teasing, "But only if you can catch me first."

With that, she shoved him backwards and tore off towards the next rooftop, full speed.

"Hey!" he yelled in indignation. She let out a giggle at his expense.

Yes, believe it or not, she could giggle. It didn't happen very often, but it was something she could do if she chose to.

But anyways, Bruce wasn't gonna catch up anytime soon, especially with the way she navigated through the city.

Two rooftops after the chase began, she dropped down onto a fire escape and descended to the ground level.

Then, a couple of blocks later, she ran back up a wall for a few steps, latched onto a ladder, and hoisted herself back up to the roof level. Bruce followed close behind, or at least as close as Selina would let him get.

Naturally after three months of being bedridden, she wasn't as fit as she used to be.

She knew that he'd eventually catch up, but it didn't matter.

They were almost there, anyways.

She dropped down a fire escape to the second story, then leapt off of it and slid down a lamppost. Her feet hit the ground and she took a second to glance upwards. Bruce was still on the third story, always a couple of steps behind.

But he was closing the distance fast.

She calmly strolled across the street.

They were just on the edge of the Sirens territory, the part of town that she'd called home for years. A wave of nostalgia hit her as she looked up at the building. Years ago, she probably thought that living in an old abandoned building had sucked. But now…that seemed like a paradise compared to the hell she was living in.

"Gotcha…" Bruce said breathlessly, taking her hand in his own. "Why'd you stop–"

He didn't need her to answer as it dawned on him where they were.

He let her fingers slip out of his as she stepped towards the old building.

She went to try the front door, but it was locked like always.

That was the tricky part, though. The door didn't open from the outside. The real entrance…

Selina started to scale the fire escape. Bruce watched her go. She reached out and pushed on a stained window pane which swung backwards. She slipped inside and the pane swung back behind her.

A few seconds later, the front door opened up from the inside. Bruce entered slowly.

It was exactly the way they'd left it all those years ago. A hammock (his bed for two months) hung in the corner, an old cruddy couch freckled with blood stains, a small, broken TV that didn't show picture anymore, only sound.

"Selina…" he started.

"Been a while, hasn't it?" she whispered.

She picked up a photograph, a Polaroid. She smiled. One day back when Bruce had lived with her as a part of his 'research', they'd stolen a camera from a Fence's collection and ran rampant all over Gotham, taking pictures of anything and everything. She went through photo after photo; most of them were of a young boy, no older than fourteen, with dark ruffled hair. In one, he was sitting at a booth in a restaurant, wolfing down a burger and fries. In another he'd pulled on a long black coat that was way too big for him and was smiling like he knew he looked stupid, but simply didn't care, probably for the amusement of the photographer. Selina stopped suddenly as she looked at the next photo. The picture in question was of a girl with curly chestnut blonde hair, fearlessly standing on the edge of a building with one foot hung out over the abyss like she was planning on stepping out into the void.

The girl felt like stranger, but Selina recognized her. "I was really into hoodies back then, wasn't I?" Selina joked. No response. "Bruce?" she asked apprehensively, setting down the photograph.

Bruce was standing behind the couch, his back turned to her.

He slowly turned around. It took Selina a few seconds to register what he was holding, and when she did, she felt her heart drop in her chest.

"Is that…" she started.

He nodded, holding up the sleeve that had been sewn back together. It was an old leather jacket, beat up and covered in dust. Most people would've thrown it away, but he knew the meaning of that jacket. It was the one that she'd torn while running away from that guy they'd stolen money from, the one that he'd sewn back up for her as a kind gesture, the one that she always used to wear, the one that she'd been wearing when they first met… And there it was, carelessly thrown on the floor to rot. Abandoned.

"Funny," Bruce started weakly, "I always wondered why you never wore this jacket anymore. I'd just figured you'd lost it…"

"Bruce…" She swallowed and put a light hand on his arm. "I'm sorry about throwing this away…I was wrong to…"

"No," Bruce told her. "No, I left. I hurt you, Selina. You acted accordingly." He felt the material of the jacket with his thumb and forefinger. He scoffed and then carelessly tossed it onto the old couch. Her eyes dropped to the floor.

He took her hands in his own and told her, "But who gives a damn about an old jacket? I left because I thought I had reason to. But now…" he stepped in close to her, raising her chin so their eyes met. "I have a reason to stay."

He kissed her, but not like before. She wrapped both arms around his neck and he pulled her into his body. After a few seconds, she broke away and huskily whispered, "You know, B, I really wanna go check out my old bedroom."

She turned and walked towards the back door, leaving a confused and disheartened Bruce behind her. He'd thought they were having a moment…

When she reached the threshold, she turned back, rolled her eyes, and asked, "Care to join me?"

It took Bruce a few seconds for it to dawn on him, but he eventually got the memo.

Now he _really_ had a reason to stay.

 **A/N: That was really fun to write! I originally wasn't going to go this route when I was considering what to do for this installment of Night-of-Episode-Oneshots, but I got a picture in my head of Selina standing on top of that building and Bruce just being like, "So, where're we going tonight?" and I decided to roll with it. Hope you enjoyed and if you did, please make sure to Review!**

 **Thanks for reading and ciao for now!**

 **Oh, and for my Roles Reversed readers, the next chapter should** _ **hopefully**_ **(and I'm saying this was a huge grain of salt) be out by Monday at the latest. I have the last two chapters mostly plotted out and ready to roll, I just have to sit down, get the canon dialogue, and write the damn thing. Once again, thanks for reading!**


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